Posted on 02/23/2017 3:54:26 PM PST by Texas Fossil
The Turkish Army forces and allied rebels in Syria captured the town of al-Bab on Thursday after a deal with ISIS to withdraw, in an operation that since the 13th of November killed at least 444 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.
The Turkish-led Euphrates Shield campaign arrived near the city of Bab on 13 November and finished its goals after a campaign that lasted over 3.5 months.
Already in January, the Turkish army claimed ISIS would withdraw from al-Bab.
After the Turkish-backed rebels controlled 50 per cent of al-Bab city, a deal was reached with ISIS, leading to the withdrawal of ISIS militants to the Deir Hafer town.
According to SOHR, at least 444 civilians were killed in the campaign, including 96 children under the age of 18 and 59 women.
Turkey managed to launch the operation in late 2016 with a Russian green light, and expelled ISIS.
According to analysts, the main goal of the operation was to prevent the Syrian Kurds from connecting the three canton administrations of Cizere, Kobani and Efrin–that together constitute the Rojava Self-Administration.
Firas Pasa, Turkmen commander of the Muntasır Billah brigade, said that the Turkish campaign will now target the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)–that liberated Manbij on August 13.
“We beat ISIS terrorists. Now it’s time for the other terrorists. We’re coming Manbij,” he said.
Moreover, Pasa suggested that they will attack the Kurdish forces in Efrin district [also known as Afrin] in northwestern Aleppo.
The pro-government Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah also said that after al-Bab, Turkish forces will target Manbij and Afrin.
Such attacks on the Kurds will make it more difficult for the United States government to navigate the relations between two key US allies in Syria: Turkey and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). So far, the US has refused to support Turkish attacks on the Kurds.
Elissa Slotkin, the former US Assistant Secretary of Defense, said in January that the coalition’s only target is the Islamic State (ISIS), explicitly ruling out attacks on Manbij city, which has been secured by the Kurdish-led SDF forces.
The Syrian Democratic Forces have vowed to resist any Turkish attacks on its forces.
“These irresponsible actions by Turkey and its allies are strongly condemned,” the commander of the SDF-led Manbij Military Council, Adnan Abu Amjad, previously told ARA News.
“We have chosen resistance to face this aggression by Turkey and its allied Euphrates Shield brigades,” he concluded.
Now, remember not so long ago, Turkey with Obama and Hillary were supporting ISIS to overthrow Assad?
Is this really a surprise? Turkey never intended to withdraw from Syria or Iraq. He was not in Syria to end ISIS (although they bloodied his troops badly). His objective is expansion of territory and killing Kurds.
Today John McCain recommended for Erdogan to stop attacking Kurds and SDF.
So where does this go? Will Erdogan sick his terrorists against the Kurds? Or will he himself do it.
It would be the best if he did neither. Guess we will soon see what "deal" he made with the Devil (ISIS).
>So where does this go? Will Erdogan sick his terrorists against the Kurds? Or will he himself do it.
Given the state of the Turkish army the Kurds would route the Turks all the way back to Istanbul.
How many civilians now dead in Mosul from our attacks? guesses? I don’t see stories on that? I did hear that 50% of the Iraqi forces have been killed or wounded— so far. We won the place once and it seems insane to participate again. We has US wounded this weak. Why?
Erdogan needs to be watched, his people call him God, and he has referred to himself in those terms! Narcissist, and was a cell phone buddy of Obama’s for several years....not sure about last couple of years, no reports.
The Anti Christ in Bible fits the Muslim description of the Mahdi, who supposedly teaches Jesus...lol The Muslims expect him to come on scene soon. Not all sects believe in Mahdi, Iran does, so I wonder if that is not why Zero did so much for them w Nuclear deal??
Very interesting. Thanks for posting.
>a deal was reached with ISIS, leading to the withdrawal of ISIS militants to the Deir Hafer town.
Playing nice with evil. Idiots.
As for attacking the Kurds, we should kick turkislam out of NATO, get rid of their islam evil rule and annex Turkey if needed.
No more allowing evil to flourish.
great...then we can call it Constantinople again.
the sick man of Europe...it’s Deja’ vu all over again...
The Turks blame the attempted coup of last summer on the US.
The US is NOT obligated to protect the Turks from any consequences of their invasion of a sovereign neighboring nation (Syria). Should the Syrian ally Russia bomb the invading Turkish forces, WE SHOULD NOT HELP EXTRICATE THE TURKS FROM THEIR FOLLY & their illegal invasion. Let them suffer their own casualties & retreat from Syria back into Turkey. The Kurds, with American help, will complete the defeat of ISIS with which they have been successfully engaging.
“So far, the US has refused to support Turkish attacks on the Kurds.”
If you allow it to happen to an ally, you support it.
Problem.
Erdogan is insane with ego and illusions of greatness. Very dangerous disease for an Islamist to have.
Let them resolve it any way they can...No more U.S. interference...As long as moslems are dying, who cares what side they are on...
“The Turkish Army forces and allied rebels in Syria captured the town of al-Bab on Thursday after a deal with ISIS to withdraw”
Called it.
What happens next is more unpredictable. The Kurds won’t take any orders from the Turks. If attacked, especially in Afrin, they will fight, unless restrained by the US. Even if they do fight though, they likely won’t have the effective anti-tank weapons that ISIS has, and they won’t get US air support against the Turks, so it would be lopsided. It is possible that the US will make the Kurds abandon Manbij and withdraw East of the Euphrates River though, which was our earlier position under Obama.
But the US (or perhaps Russians) might be able to restrain the Turks from going any further as well.
Yes, you called it.
In light of the great performance of the SDF (Kurds) and the terrible performance of the Turk Army with external Terrorists, Erdogan probably did not have much choice.
Only other option was simply withdraw, which he would not do, due to the upcoming referendum.
Now the negotiation of the “deal” with ISIS? Some of Erdogan’s terrorists were already allied with ISIS.
And Erdogan was also allied with ISIS early on.
Like Obama, he did not really want to end ISIS.
Trump does and will.
Erdogan’s past actions have already damaged him greatly in EU and on world stage. Everybody knows what he is doing and what his ambitions are. Probably Saudi money behind him.
And he likes the Oil Play. He would love an excuse (or even without an excuse) to grab some.
I hope Trump & Putin can act like adults and tamp down Erdogan’s zeal for bloodying the Kurds. He thinks he is already King, but he may be surprised.
I agree with everything that you said.
This morning:
“Carnage as suicide bomber kills 42 people in Syrian town just hours after it was taken from ISIS by Turkish-backed rebels”
2 serious problems with reporting:
“major blow just hours after they hailed its capture from ISIS.”
>It WAS NOT, captured. Erdogan made a “deal” with ISIS for them to leave.
“is believed the car bomb drove into the Free Syrian Army position before detonating”
>It is more likely they planted a huge auto bomb before leaving and remote detonated it when FSA got settle into old headquarters.
Saw these tweets & pics this morning. Thought you might find interesting.
https://twitter.com/QalaatAlMudiq/status/835104912887406592
https://twitter.com/QalaatAlMudiq/status/835097578438021120
No trace on the barracks.
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